Dulwich Despatch
Page 16
Clubs and Societies
Scouts: Building an Air Car Building an air car was something that neither of us has ever experienced. Not having used tools and materials like this before we felt excited as there were no restrictions on what we could build. To start off, we agreed on the design of the air car that we were going to build so that we weren’t improvising as we went along, which would make failure more likely. We divided jobs between us so that we weren’t doing the same thing and we could work more quickly. Aiken was assigned to sorting out the motors and the chassis and putting them together using velcro and different joining materials. Jed cut and sanded the car’s balsa wood pieces to exact measurements. Aiken thought that the build was a bit ambitious but we were able to complete it just on time. Jed loved the building of the car and would like to do more projects like this! Our car had a chassis in the shape of a large arrow with 2 motors on the edges of the triangle and one on the tail. With plastic wheels in three corners, that Aiken had fitted brilliantly, the vehicle’s movement was smooth. Overall the vehicle was very light. Aiken felt the car looked alright, but that the raised propeller didn’t look very good. He also thought that we could give it a frame so that it was more aerodynamic, although this would weigh it down. The car, even though we had built it well, didn’t go as well as we would have liked it to as one of the propellers was mounted upside down. This meant that, after being stationary, the car went backwards. Jed thought that if we had tested it out as we built the car, this wouldn’t have happened. We both learnt many things from this experience, such as co-operating with people calmly under time limits. We also learned about aerodynamics, weight and useful tips for building vehicles. Overall this experience has been extremely fun and informative! Jedidiah Burge Thomas, 7L and Aiken Furlong, 7E ******* History Society: Ancient Greece Here is my project which I am presenting at History Club, which meets on Wednesdays. Greece is a mountainous country, made up of a large mainland with islands dotted around it. It
is struck by hot, dry summers; rain only coming in the winter. In Ancient Greece the land was divided into city-states, each one fighting for the best land. Due to this many men had to enlist in the army to fight in these wars. The soldiers had to pay for their own armour, so this meant that the richer soldiers served as well protected infantry units in phalanxes, whilst the poorer soldiers were bowmen and in auxiliary units. Greeks liked their homes to be private, having the windows set high in the walls. In houses there was always an altar for sacrifices to be made on and a statue of the god Hermes at the door to keep away evil. There were lots of gods, and each had a different personality, like Athena, the goddess of war and knowledge. Ancient Greeks also believed that gods were much like humans, as in stories they argued, agreed, fell in love and so on. There were lots of professions in Ancient Greece such as fishing, farming, masonry, blacksmithing and many more. All of these men sold their produce in the nearest town square, where townspeople could buy it.
In early Ancient Greece tyrants held the power, but in some city-states they were driven out and an early form of democracy was set up. It was a forum called the Assembly and it made important decisions. This was not a perfect system, as women, slaves and immigrants were not allowed to make any decisions. Oscar Cunningham 7W
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